Russiagate prosecutions a must, DSA ties should disqualify and other commentary

Conservative: Russiagate Prosecutions a Must

“Damning evidence” now shows “conclusively” that “Russiagate was a conspiracy — hatched, implemented and relentlessly promoted by top officials in the CIA, FBI and across the Obama-Biden-Clinton political machine to rig a presidential election and undermine a duly elected president,” fumes Tom Fitton at The Hill. And it corrupted “institutions essential to protecting American liberty.” Yet “those responsible” remain unpunished. CIA chief John Brennan and National Intelligence boss James Clapper “lied to Congress and the American public.” Top “Justice Department officials, such as Bruce Ohr,” acted as “a conduit for anti-Trump smears.” James Comey and other “leaders at the FBI” used “the intelligence community’s credibility to spread what they knew to be their own fiction as if it were truth.” “America is a republic, not a banana republic. It’s time for accountability, reform and a sharp reminder” that “the people are sovereign, not unelected bureaucrats.”

Culture desk: Fitness Test Offers Valuable Lessons 

For many children, recalls The Free Press’s Kat Rosenfeld, the old Presidential Fitness meant confronting “the humiliation and discomfort of being weak and slow,” hence its 2012 “retirement” as President Barack Obama promoted “a kinder, gentler, more progressive worldview” that preferred “inclusivity to merit.” Yet this leveling could “move the nation toward institutionalized mediocrity” by “making it taboo to even have standards at all.” Progressives faced with a high bar have sought “to get rid of the bar”; let’s welcome President Trump’s return of the Fitness Test, since important “lessons” come only with “the bitter taste of failure on your tongue.” That is: Failure is “one of the greatest motivators to self-betterment there is.” 

From the right: DSA Ties Should Disqualify

Zohran Mamdani, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent progressives’ membership in the Democratic Socialists of America membership have “been treated gingerly,” gripes Commentary’s Seth Mandel. Yet “affiliation with the DSA should finally and rightfully be regarded as disqualifying for an elected official.” After all, the recent DSA national convention included a resolution making “it an expellable offense to say ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ or to ‘have knowingly provided material aid to Israel,’” plus one “censuring Ocasio-Cortez for being too pro-Israel.” Who wants to be associated with a “hate group?” No way “any politician’s membership in such a group should be acceptable.”

Eye on hate: The Left’s Obsession With Assassins 

Praise for Shane Tamura, who killed four people, including the CEO of BlackStone, in a mass shooting in New York City last month, “points to a growing belief,” especially on the left, that “violent extremism is the only way to challenge a corrupted system,” warn Max Horder & Olivia Rose at City Journal. Most evidence suggested Tamura was targeting NFL offices, but “an alternative narrative quickly emerged” on social media that “claimed that Tamura was following in the footsteps” of Luigi Mangione. “The prevalence of this chatter on social media reflects the unabated growth of what the Network Contagion Research Institute has termed ‘assassination culture,’” which glorifies and cheers on political violence. “The consequences for American civic life are ominous,” and the “slow but steady rise” of this mentality “bodes ill for any democracy.”

Campus watch: Vindicated for Resisting DEI

“I was heartened to see my former employer, Duke University Health System, quietly reverse its commitment to woke racism this year,” cheers Kendall Conger at RealClear Investigations. A physician, Conger questioned Duke’s insistence, supposedly “guided by science,” that “racism is a public health crisis” — and “was fired because of it.” After a nurse reported him for his views on the subject, Duke forbade him to talk about it. Though counseled to keep quiet, he continued to ask questions, knowing that evil comes from “good men holding their tongues.” In 2024, he was let go for being disruptive and had trouble finding work nearby. But now Duke has changed — and he feels “vindicated.” He tells his kids: “Never shy away from asking questions in the pursuit of truth.” 

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board